Cordray Facing Renewed GOP Grilling

Partisan politics will be on full display Tuesday when the Senate Banking Committee conducts its nomination hearing for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray.

Senate Republican leaders have threatened to block the confirmation vote unless the CFPB is reformed. The GOP is calling for replacing Cordray with a five-person commission and subjecting the CFPB to the Senate appropriations process.

Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, introduced a bill last month that would legislate the change.

Cordray’s future at the bureau has also been challenged by an appeals court ruling that invalidated appointments made by President Barack Obama to the National Labor Relations Board. The appointments, made while the Senate was in pro forma session; Cordray was appointed the same day as the NLRB appointees.

On Feb. 27, Sen. Elizabeth Warren urged credit union leaders to advocate for the CFPB and Cordray during their visits on Capitol Hill during CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference.

“Never before in American history has a minority in the Senate blocked a nominee to try to get changes in a law they don’t like and don’t have the votes to change,” she said.

The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Former prosecutor turned big bank attorney Mary Jo White will also take the stand to answer questions regarding her nomination to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. She is expected to be confirmed by the Senate.